Four to five members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

WHY:

Victims of sex abuse by priests and concerned Catholics will pass out fliers to church-goers where Chicago’s new Archbishop is saying mass. They want Archbishop Cupich to make protecting children his first priority.

They will pass out fliers to church goers outside the church where Cupich is saying mass this Sunday.

The organization also wants him to personally visit St. Alphonsus parish next weekend (1429 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago 60657; 773-525-0709). That’s where Fr. Michael W. O’Connell remains on the job despite reports from two men that he molested them as boys.

Fr. O’Connell was temporarily removed from St. Alphonsus in December 2013 after the archdiocese received an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a boy at Our Lady of the Woods in Orland Park years earlier. In April of this year, Cardinal Francis George reinstated O’Connell even though the Cook County Sheriff’s Department never closed the criminal case.

Shortly thereafter, new allegations surfaced involving abuse of different boy in the 1990s and police continue to investigate. O'Connell, however, remains on the job. Catholic officials claim O’Connell is to avoid the parish school and will not be alone with a child, a contention that SNAP calls “ludicrous and dangerous.”

The group wants Cupich to go to St. Alphonsus and beg anyone who may have information or suspicions about crimes or misdeeds by O’Connell to call police.